Win32/Phorpiex stands for a family of worms that are distributed through removable drives and IM (instant messaging) programs. These worms also permit backdoor access and control. The presence of this malware may be evidence by certain system amendments in removable drives, in particular, by the presence of hidden files, together with shortcuts that appear as folder icons. Another way of how this scam can be spread is via instant messaging programs. Through their backdoor functionality, Win32/Phorpiex examples can be commanded to spread either themselves or other viruses through instant messaging software. When commanded by hackers to do so, the malware checks if any of the instant messaging programs are running on your system. Today there’s a large number of such viruses being spread via Skype as well. In the majority of cases, this virus infects the Skype program and may cause the occurrence (appearance) of strange popups (messages) that prompt the user into opening the link allegedly having some picture of user. The tricky way the virus sets out this statement makes users click the link, thus installing the malware into the system.

There are various variations of such messages with links about alleged pictures of user, and they can be received in various
countries of the world where this virus is popular. Here’s some examples:

We strongly urge users to be extremely careful with any links that prompt you to open them in order to see some picture or video claiming to be of you. Instead, we recommend you to avoid clicking them at all and scan your system with the help of a legitimate and powerful security application such as ESET NOD32 Antivirus.